Kimkim Trip Reviews

David and the Heimdal Tours provided a fabulous full-day private tour for us. He was very knowledgeable of the history and explained the various sites that we saw in a clear and comprehensive conversation. We were very relaxed, did not feel rushed, and very satisfied with the amount of territory we covered. It truly was very well worth the cost. We can highly recommend you take advantage of this tour when visiting Faroe Islands.
8/18

Mingma and the porters were lovely and very helpful, and I was grateful to them for flicking leeches off my shoes! It was a good route with lots of different and pretty immediate scenery, even if it was too cloudy to see the mountains. I was happy with the level of difficulty of the trek. I loved the first tea house in Ghandruk. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of views but had plenty of warning that this could well be the case in monsoon season.

We had a wonderful trip. Myanmar is beautiful country, the people are so friendly! The first contact with Anne was very promising and after a few e-mails we got a very good proposal in which Anne really proposed what we like to do. We love having close contact with the local people and we had! Lunches at family homes, a trekking around Pindaya, the Inle Lake, Kalaw and much more. The train rides between Kalaw and Inle lake was a great experience. In Bagan we explored the beautiful area with E bikes which was great.
Our guides made the difference! Nee, Aka, Wee and Chris told us a lot about their daily live and about the history of Myanmar. They made it possible to interact with the local people.
the hotels were good, not the big chain hotels but the real Myanmar experience. Especially Kalaw Heritage; a lovely hotel, great service, beautiful rooms.

If you want to experience Myanmar a bit more of the beaten track, not the standard tour operating thing which you see everywhere, go for Anne. What we also really appreciated was the idea that the money we spend ended up well, local family businesses.

Anne: thank you so much for the beautiful journey! We loved every minute.

Thomas, Gienke, Martijn and Friso

Overall, the trip was wonderful and we had a fantastic time! We can't wait to return to Norway to see more of that amazing country. Marrit (sp?) our guide was amazing and great at showing us the sites as well as reacting to changes on the fly. Even though some stormy weather kept us from doing the glacier hike we originally planned on, she identified several other options and shorter hikes we could do in the area to make the most of the day. The kayaking portion of the trip was magical and it was amazing that we were the only boats out there. The only critiques of the trip are as follows:
1) Through no fault of the guide or our local specialist, the hotel that we got the kayaks from seemed pretty disorganized (they said they had 4 boats, they only had 3, the paddles were in a different spot, some boats were locked up and they didn't have access when we wanted to go out, they weren't very well maintained making them harder to steer, etc.). It would have been nicer if this had been more of a professional operation so we could spend more time on the water.
2) I realized at our last stop before heading to the train station that Emily hadn't sent us copies of the train tickets we needed to get to Oslo. Marrit contacted her and got a link to the tickets, but there was some trouble downloading it to access the actual tickets so when we got on the train there was some confusion proving that we had tickets and sitting in available seats. This was quite irksome, especially since if I hadn't realized that we didn't have tickets before we left Skjolden, we wouldn't have been able to board the train at all.

Please let me know if you have additional questions. Overall we really enjoyed our time in Norway and can't wait to return. When we do, we would absolutely use KimKim and Emily for assistance in planning our next adventure.

We had a wonderful experience. Dimitris was very helpful and created a great itinerary for our vacation.

It was great to have a personalised tour and the fact they ensured I was able to access it by providing a Nepalese Sign Language Interpreter. I enjoyed my time in Bhaktpur the most.

Our experience in Iceland was amazing!
We loved all the activities that Halldor planed for us. The place that we liked the most was Landmannalaugar, and Halldor made us a great recommendation of hiking the blue mountain, great views!! Also it was a very beautifull and clear day.
The lodging were pretty good, we loved that they all included breakfast and were clean.
The car rental service gave us a car that wasn't exactly 4x4, it was a good car in general, just on the river crossing part on our way to Thorsmork it was a bit stressfull with that car, but we manage the situation and we did it!
We are very greatfull to Halldor and the people from Kimkim that we came across, they were all very helpfull and kind, and gave us very good advices. We´re looking forward to return back soon!

Trip to Costa Rica - 7/17/18 - 8/2/18 for 7 people, 4 adults and 3 children (ages 10, 12 & 14)

This was our first trip using the KimKim service, which I found through online research. Overall the tools were easy to use and the communication worked great and without problems. I would recommend it and will use it again.
Our trip in country was planned by Sylvia and she did an outstanding job. We stayed 1 night in San Jose, then due to some Caribbean storms, she did a quick switch for us from Tortugero to Rancho Humo on the Nicoya Peninsula. We stayed there 2 nights and then went to Arenal for 3 nights, Monteverde for 3 nights and then 6 nights at the Westin n Playa Conchal. We did not want to be part of a large tour group, so Sylvia arranged for us to have our own transportation, drivers and tour guides for every part of the trip including 8 or 9 excursions which she did a great job with the planning. Every part of it went flawlessly and she even arranged to have a birthday cake delivered in Monteverde for our nephew who was turning 12! Every hotel met our expectations (Rancho Humo, Arena Manoa, La FondaVela, and the Westin) and we all felt that all the excursions were worth it and helped us learn more about Costa Rica. I would highly recommend Sylvia.

Driver Azzam was very good and informative and punctual. However on a couple of occasions he suggested pick-up times different to those on our itinerary, most notably at Petra where he did not know about our back-door hike to the Monastery on the morning following our day at Petra, and he suggested a pick-up time from the Dead Sea of 1:00pm rather than the previous booked 5:00pm (this was important as we were meeting the family at the Dead sea). However everything worked out all right in the end and he did show as some amazing views both driving into Petra and on the old road from Petra to the Dead sea.
Our guide Ibrahim for the hike to the Monastery was excellent, as was the hike itself.
Petra is of course amazing and our day and a half there was just about right.
Jerash, Ajloun, Karak and Showback are all impressive and enlightening.
The Dead Sea experience was enjoyable but really only because we could play with our grandchildren in the swimming pool.
A well organised itinerary with sufficient time to see our family in Amman. A trip we will not forget.
Lena deserves thanks for putting together the programme combining touring and spending time with our family.

Linda and her team were terrific. They put together a custom itinerary that took into account the varied interests of a family with teenagers and made everything easy. The trip was very fun and educational and, coming from someone that hasn't used a travel agent in years, it wouldn't have been possible without their help. I highly recommend Linda and her team for a Norway adventure.

Excellent service provided by my KimKim representative Ingrid. She let me know everything down to bus times and numbers, and even went above and beyond finding me a ride home one night after I missed the last bus and the only taxi company in Aurland was fully booked. Really great help overall!

Guide - Mario - excellent - great guy, very knowledgeable about the area and culture, excellent language skills, friendly, considerate - perfect !
Operator - Chris - very professional in organizing the trip. But, I expected him to come by at the hotel after arrival to review the trip and get to know each other. Again very well organized but a bit missing that personal touch.
Trip was great:
Day 1 Antigua - excellent
Day 2 Pacaya volcano - excellent
Day 3 Lake Atitlan - lake and boat ride as well as the visit to the first Mayan city were super nice (visited local crafts such as herb thee growing and textile weaving). Second city on the lake was boring and from my point of view even annoying to be dragged around town to see the local beliefs and religion.
Day 4 Kayaking and Hiking on//along lake Atitlan was great.
Day 5 Mayan ruins at Ixemtche - super nice but we spend a lot of time that day in the car.
All in all it was a great trip especially taking into account the very short notice we had to get it organized. Many Thanks. We're definitely planning on going back to Guatemala when we have a bit more time to stay longer.

Robi did a wonderful job coordinating a half-day boating trip for us near Split, Croatia. When I inquired about the trip, he was able to find a trip at a price and schedule that fit our family's needs. His turnaround time was great and he had excellent communication with us from the trip planning to following up with us after the trip. Our skipper on the boat, Sime, made the day so fun and relaxing! He took care of everything we needed, was very flexible and kind. I would highly recommend this trip!

Just returned from a totally epic trip to Norway, planned with great care by our awesome specialist Linda. Linda service was nothing short of perfect. She listened to what we wanted to do during our visit, understood and respected our budget and planned a trip for us that maximized our dollars and used our travel days very efficiently. Without Linda's help I am certain that we would not have been able to see so much of the country in such a smooth and logical manner and would never have found the interesting, charming and cost efficient accommodations that she did. In addition that tours she planned were spot-on and unique to our family. I was really impressed with Linda's ability really get a sense of what we truly wanted out of the trip (i.e. to experience the "real" Norway, not a tourist version). We had so many wonderful experiences, but I would say the best was probably our stay in Aurland. Our accommodations were amazing (cabin overlooking the fjord) and our tour of the area with Mathilda was just amazing, and included a hike to a beautiful lookout and glassblowing with a local artist. Our tour through Bergen with David was equally awesome. He gave us a local's view of the "scene" in Bergen and had so many great recommendations for restaurants, kafe's, shop's etc. that were off the tourist-path. I think the best part of the tours were that both guides were lovely and engaging and happy to chat and share about what life is like in Norway. We also took the Hurtigurten which was really interesting and fun and ended our trip in Trondheim which is a simply beautiful, young, fun city. I think it is worth mentioning two very important things: 1) Linda really did a great job ensuring all of our booking and travel transitions were smooth and easy to follow, including arranging taxis and pick/ drop off and being considerate of train/boat/travel times to ensure we were not wasting time waiting or were stuck in one place with hours to kill and nowhere to go. 2) When there were a couple of (very minor) hiccups with hotel bookings, Linda was accessible, available to help and dealt with the issues immediately. It was very comforting to know that she was available to help during our travel. Well done Linda! Truly was a trip of a lifetime and my mother was so impressed and happy. Best, Katie

A fantastic day with a local guide - great hiking with some cool, secret canyons and waterfalls. Lunch was amazing. Best of all were Jon’s Saga stores and personal love for the region. More than we expected!

Sylvia is amazing! She is pleasant and easy to work with. We missed our flight and Sylvia rearranged pick-up and transfers from the airport with no fuss. She surprised us with a last minutes city tour of San Jose and dinner at Tiquicia Restaurant. The view of central valley from Tiquicia Restaurant was spectacular! It is truly a million-dollar view. The food was delicious and the traditional dance was fantastic.

Tabacon Resort , all I can I say is " Wow, wow, and wow " It is a thermal paradise! All of the staffs at the resort were wonderful. Do not miss this place.

Monteverde Cloud Forest - what an incredible place. I felt like I was in the movie Avatar. I saw so many wildlife - incredible experience. The sky walk, sky tram , and the zip lining was unbelievable. We had so much fun!

Manuel Antonio Nation Park - stunning park with amazing beaches. I'm so happy we did a guided tour of the park; otherwise, we would have missed out on the beautiful wildlife like the Sloth, rainbow grasshopper, and the colorful birds.

My daughter and I had an amazing time in Costa Rica. Thank you Sylvia .

XOXO
Seng

My trip to Sri Lanka was a true pleasure. I wish to thank my guide, Mark, for his expert care. I felt at ease and well cared for throughout my 10 day stay.

I can't say which region was my favorite to be honest. I traveled in the North and through the cultural triangle. I loved all of it but ,Jaffna, perhaps, stole my heart. I think, because of how much the people have had to endure and have come so far in rebuilding life there.

The beauty of the island is truly amazing. I was greeted so warmly by the people there and I met some forever true friends. Lovely. Thank you.

Sharif was a real gentleman. We fell in love with him. Always on time, polite, attentive, full of useful suggestions, discreet.
He helped to make our two birthdays special.
Petra and Wadi Rum amazing. So much history. Bilal was a great story teller. Camel ride fantastic. Lying on the sand looking up at the stars beautiful. Sharif suggested snorkeling in Aqaba - just right.

Chris and team provided my family with the best vacation we have ever shared together.
This was the first trip to Guatemala for my 2 biological children, as well as the first trip to Guatemala for my youngest daughter that we adopted from Guatemala 13 years ago. It was also our first opportunity visit with Telma, a 9 yr old girl that we sponsor from Guatemala through the organization, Unbound.

When I first reached-out to Chris, I didn't know what to expect. I had very little knowledge about Guatemala, but wanted to provide my family a very special experience. With just a few suggestions for sights we wanted to see and activities that we wanted to experience, Chris created a complete 7 day itinerary, that included, hotel accommodations, guides, ride transfers, necessary equipment, etc.. no details left out. It was a completely seamless experience which made our trip so enjoyable and stress free. Chris immediately responded to all my requests and questions.

I also can not say enough about his staff. We had the pleasure to spend 4 days with Alex, our guide, who lead us through mountain biking, volcano hiking, village tours, kayaking, and who shared with us his culture and country's history. Along the way he introduced us to many locals that added to our experience. We had "Monkey" guide us up Pacaya, and make us Smores from active volcanic ash and rock. We met Mary a local villager from Santiago, who taught us how create a traditional Mayan headdress, We met Delphina and her sister, who belong to a local textile cooperative in San Juan who shared with us their family craft of making textile goods by hand. While stopping for lunch at a restaurant we were invited to make our own tortillas. Lastly, we had the opportunity to hike the ancient city of Tikal and experience the ruins with our guide Andres. He was very knowledgeable about Mayan history and was able to share the history of Tikal with our family.

Never would we have experienced so much in such a short time without the help of Chris and KimKim. Thank you guys for the trip of a life time!!!

Mads was really helpful from the outset and helped me work out a fantastic itinerary for myself and my family. We thoroughly enjoyed it all from the trekking with our lovely guide chheering, the white water rafting expedition and our luxurious stay at Chitwan. Our adventure to lumbini and across the border was fun but would maybe fly from Kathmandu next time! Amanda, our contact in Kathmandu was faultless- giving us excellent recommendations for meals and providing us with a phone so we could contact her if we had any problems and then resolving any issues with incredible speed. We loved Nepal as much as when we last visited it nearly 20 years ago and now our 3 children love it as well. Thank you all so much.